feud
n. countablen. a long and bitter argument between two people, families, or groups. It often lasts for many years and involves people trying to hurt each other.
n. a state of prolonged mutual hostility, typically between two families or communities, often triggered by a desire for revenge. Frequently involves a cycle of retaliatory acts over an extended period.
The two families have been in a feud for decades.
What started as a small disagreement over a property line escalated into a bitter family feud that lasted generations.
Historians often point to the long-standing feud between the rival factions as the primary catalyst for the eventual collapse of the regional government during the late nineteenth century.
Inherited from Northern Middle English fede, feide, from Old French faide, feide, fede, from Proto-West Germanic faihiþu (“hatred, enmity”) (corresponding to foe + -th), from Proto-Indo-European peyḱ- (“hostile”). Cognate to Old English fǣhþ, fǣhþu, fǣhþo (“hostility, enmity, violence, revenge, vendetta”), German Fehde, and Dutch vete (“feud”) (directly inherited from Proto-West Germanic) alongside Danish fejde (“feud, enmity, hostility, war”) and Swedish fejd (“feud, controversy, quarrel, strife”) (borrowed from Middle Low German).
From Medieval Latin feudum. Doublet of fee, fief, and feoff.
Often used with the verbs 'start', 'end', or 'settle'; frequently takes the preposition 'between' or 'with'.